"Recently I found myself, for the fifth time, among the denizens of a
place that celebrates my favorite cinematic genre: the historic Castro
Theatre in San Francisco, home of the Film Noir Foundation's 11th Annual
Noir City Film Festival. The 27-film retrospective, which ran Jan. 25
to Feb. 3, featured newly restored prints, thanks to the Film Noir
Foundation, as well as obscure films that may not have been seen in
decades.
Each evening had its own subject, from the wildly popular Bad
Girls Night and San Francisco Noir Night, to the newly created
African-American Noir Night and 3-D Noir Night. San Francisco Noir is
the most popular night in the Festival, though Bad Girls Night is always
my favorite. Unfortunately, I missed Bad Girls Night this year due to
Bad Odie Day at the St. Francis Hospital Emergency Room. Bad luck
befalls all noir heroes, so this revolting development did not surprise
me in the least.

"Of the 27 films shown, I saw 21. Here are five worth mentioning:"

You can find the rest of the piece, and a picture of me and Eddie Muller, the Czar of Noir, here.

"Reincarnated" opens with a huge puff of marijuana smoke, an
appropriate image for a documentary starring the artist formerly known
as Snoop Dogg. The newly christened Snoop Lion appeared on HBO's "Real
Time With Bill Maher" a few weeks ago, and throughout his segment, Maher
kept smelling his guest. You can bet your last money that Snoop didn't
smell like April Fresh Downy.
Somewhere between inhales, Maher told Snoop "you smoke too much
weed in this movie!" Snoop agreed, and boy, he was not kidding. If the MPAA
were remotely creative, their rating description for "Reincarnated"
would be "Rated R for rampant reefer, pervasive pot, some shizznit and
constant kutchie passing." This is the first movie that would benefit
from being released in Smell-O-Vision."

"Pineda has also had to deal with fan reactions, which has often
expressed itself in the typical Internet modes of racism and insult.
Even concertgoers have reservations about a foreigner taking over for a
local hero. Diaz shows some choice comments from these naysayers, but
she also shows how Filipinos flocked to see and hear one of their own.
Journey has always had fans of every race and culture (they sold 80
million albums) but the numbers in the Philippines rose with their new
acquisition. Outside a concert, a woman selling Arnel Pineda shirts and
posters she designed tells us "when Journey found him, they inherited a
nation."

Wanna have some fun seeing me get menaced? Try this piece on being Trapped in a Disney World ride!

"Considering that I can't seem to have a normal experience regardless of
adventure or intent, I'm surprised at the paucity of my Mickey Mishaps.
My most recent glitch happened two weeks ago. This time it featured one
of our beloved Far-Flung Correspondents, 2012's Polish Film Critic of
the Year, Michał Oleszczyk. He mentioned it during his Sundance coverage
of "Escape From Tomorrow," a film shot guerilla-style in the same park
where we spent three almost perfect days. The fascination of "Escape
from Tomorrow," and how it was executed under the ever-watchful eye of
the Mouse House, has been the talk of Sundance. As litigious as Disney
can be, you may never see the surreal "Escape from Tomorrow." As a
consolation prize for those unable to attend Sundance, I submit for your
approval a tale called "Escape from Toy Story."